“Bridgerton” has more barriers to break

The lush “Bridgerton” series still has barriers to break. Its next season will apparently be the first with an LGBT romance at its core.
As filming began in London, the Netflix show said it will focus on Francesca’s relationship with Michaela (they’re shown here), her late husband’s cousin.
Through its first four seasons, “Bridgerton” has brought many inter-racial romances and marriages (including Francesca and her husband, John Stirling) to high society in the early 1800s. The fourth season broke class barriers, when Benedict Bridgerton fell in love with a servant. Gay romance has also been touched upon briefly; now it moves to the center.
The sixth of eight Bridgerton siblings, Francesca has been the one who resisted the big-family tumult around her. A gifted pianoforte player, she often preferred to be alone.
But she fell in love with John, who was equally reserved. They married and she gradually befriended his vibrant and outgoing cousin.
In this past season, Francesca obsessed on her inability to reach “the pinnacle” during sex and her failure to get pregnant. Then came the jolt: John, who had been complaining of overwork (in Parliament) and headaches, died in his sleep.
The new season jumps ahead two years. Francesca reluctantly re-joins society and the marriage market, just as Michaela returns to tend to her family’s estate.